Freezing rain paralyzes Big Sandy region
District 1 road crews worked to remove a downed tree on Abbott Creek in Floyd County Tuesday morning. Photo/Floyd County Fiscal Court
By TONY FYFFE
BSN Editor
After being hit with an ice storm late last week, the Big Sandy region got another round that began Sunday night and got so severe that even state highway crews could do little to ease the situation.
“For the first time in memory, officials at Highway District 12 had to pull back its trucks from ‘B’ and ‘C’ routes last night because ice-covered roads jeopardized driver safety,” District 12 reported Monday morning. “D12 officials advise everyone to stay indoors today, tonight, and well into the day tomorrow, Tuesday, February 16.”
The district’s snow and ice coordinator, Darold Slone, said highway trucks were “running into guardrail, sliding into ditch lines, unable to stay on the pavement.”
“Our drivers are highly skilled and experienced driving in every type of weather,” Slone said. “Every truck is fully loaded with salt and liquid calcium chloride. They have chains on their tires. If they can’t navigate the roads safely, then other people don’t need to be out.”
Highway workers concentrated on “A” routes, which are the most heavily traveled roads, such as U.S. 23.
All seven of the district’s counties – Lawrence, Johnson, Floyd, Martin, Pike, Knott and Letcher – had freezing rain at daylight Monday, according to the highway department.
The situation was just as bad on county roads throughout the region.
Lawrence County Emergency Management reported late Sunday night that all county roads were closed “due to black ice and incoming weather.” The agency advised residents not to travel unless there was an “extreme emergency,” saying roads were “very slick.”
“Our fantastic road department is out doing what they can to remove the ice we have and pre-treat before the next storm front moves in,” the Lawrence County Judge-Executive's Office reported Monday. “Please be patient. Our boys are working hard. Again, we ask that you please stay in and do not travel.”
Warming centers were opened in Lawrence County at the Blaine and Fallsburg community centers and Blaine Church of God.
In Johnson County, Judge-Executive Mark McKenzie issued a declaration of a local state of emergency, effective Sunday at 10:45 p.m., with all roads in the county maintenance system closed to all non-essential traffic until they could become passable.
“Paintsville/Johnson County 911 is receiving multiple reports of vehicular accidents throughout the county,” Paintsville/Johnson County Emergency Management reported Sunday night. “Please stay off of the roadways and allow fire-rescue, EMS, law enforcement, road crews, and wrecker services to respond to existing accidents.”
Martin County Judge-Executive Bill Davis issued a similar declaration Sunday at 10:30 p.m., with all county roads shut down to non-essential traffic. The Martin County Fiscal Court issued a press release Monday morning, saying county roads were still icy and that “the expected forecast for today does not allow for much improvement.”
“All county roads included in the county road maintenance system will remain closed today,” the Monday release said, urging residents to stay off the roads.
Another ice storm moved into the region late Monday, causing downed trees and power lines and shutting off electricity to thousands of residents.
Highway District 12 reported at 10:25 p.m. Monday that there were broken utility poles with lines hanging across Ky. 3215 in Lawrence County, where its county maintenance garage is located.
“At this time, we are not sure if we can get our plow trucks back to the garage to reload with salt,” the highway department said. “The garage has no power and is operating on a generator.”
Also in Lawrence County Monday night, utility lines were hanging across U.S 23 at mile point 15.5. Highway plow trucks were behind the lines and could not get back to reload with salt.
“They are trying to determine what kind of lines and contact appropriate people to come and remove or rehang the lines,” District 12 said.
District 12's maintenance facilities in Johnson and Martin counties were without power Monday night, with numerous downed trees and lines reported in both counties.
In Floyd County, all traffic signals in Prestonsburg were not working Monday night due to a power outage.
At 6 a.m. Tuesday, District 12 reported that trees and power lines were down, power was out and roads were slick in all of its seven counties.
“We had to call off tree cutting last night,” the highway department said. “Too dark, too dangerous. When you can hear trees cracking and can't tell where they are, don't know where they are going to fall, it's time to stop for the night. Safety takes precedence over clearing roads at that point.
“The good thing? We did not get as much freezing rain as expected, mostly just plain rain. Cold temperatures re-froze wet roads everywhere, however, so driving is not safe this morning.”
Trees and/or power lines were down on every state road except U.S. 23 and Ky. 645 in Lawrence County Tuesday morning, according to the highway department, which said that American Electric Power had to pull its crews Monday night due to safety concerns and were mobilizing again at 6 a.m. Tuesday.
“It will take time to remove utility lines from downed trees before we can cut the trees and clear the roads,” District 12 said. “Be prepared to stay indoors this morning.”
District 12 noted that “communication has been difficult through the night due to power outages, our own facilities converting to generator power, and spotty cell phone signals.”
Big Sandy RECC reported at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday that around 8,500 of its members were without power, including 453 in Lawrence County, 4,100 in Johnson County, 3,000 in Floyd County and 785 in Martin County.
The most recent report from Kentucky Power Company by press time Tuesday showed that thousands of its customers remained without electricity.
The ice was met with snow flurries Tuesday morning in the Big Sandy region, with more bad weather predicted for today (Wednesday).
“A brief period of snow is possible Wednesday afternoon,” the National Weather Service at Jackson said Tuesday morning. “Freezing rain, snow, and sleet are possible from Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Moderate to heavy accumulations of snow or ice are possible during that time, but considerable uncertainty remains. There is another chance of snow Thursday evening through Friday morning.”